Xiaomi 12 Lite Review: A Good Upper Mid-Range Phone!

Xiaomi 12 Lite is the lite version of Xiaomi 12, a flagship phone from Xiaomi. It is also the successor of last year’s Mi 11 Lite 5G NE which was a pretty good phone.

This year, the 12 Lite brings meaningful upgrades with an updated 120Hz OLED panel, a better 108MP camera sensor, and faster charging.

With a thin and light design, good processing power, and updated cameras. Did Xiaomi 12 Lite manage to impress us? Let’s find out!

Xiaomi 12 Lite Review

Design

• 159.3 x 73.7 x 7.29 mm
• 173 g
• Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
• Glass back and plastic frame

Xiaomi 12 Lite is a sleek-looking phone with a thickness of 7.29mm and is a pretty light phone that weighs 173g. However, it is bulkier than the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE. The 11 Lite 5G NE is much thinner at 6.8mm and it only weighs 158g.

With the upgraded display and camera sensor, Xiaomi might have had to add bulk to this phone. But, this doesn’t take away anything from its premium design.

It borrows the same design elements from Xiaomi 12 with an identical camera setup. The rear panel is made up of glass and imitates a frosted glass finish. We had the device in the Lite Green variant which did a very good job of hiding the smudges. The other two colorways are Lite Pink and Black.

There’s no official IP53 rating that was offered on the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE. Instead, all you get is Xiaomi’s promise that it will withstand sprinkles of water and dust.

Like the Xiaomi 12, the camera island sticks out a bit too much which causes it to wobble when placed on a flat surface.

It has a flat and boxy design without any curvatures around the frame. But, the in-hand feel is quite good.

The in-display optical fingerprint is placed lower than I would like but it is very fast and reliable. Likewise, it has a dual stereo speaker setup with one dedicated bottom-firing speaker and the earpiece acts as an additional speaker. It is quite loud but the clarity is only average.

ALSO READ: Realme C31 Review: A Typical Budget Phone!

Display

• 6.55 inches AMOLED
• 1080 x 2400
• 120Hz, HDR10+, Dolby Vision

This year Xiaomi 12 Lite gets a flagship-grade display with a 12-bit color panel. It is a 6.55-inch AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch response rate. This is a substantial upgrade over last year’s 90Hz FHD AMOLED panel.

The panel is also HDR10+ and Dolby Vision certified, making it a flagship-level display. On top of that, it is a very bright panel and I did not have any problems using the phone outdoors. The color reproduction is equally good with accurate and vivid colors.

The refresh rate control is pretty simple. You can set the display to 120Hz mode or 60Hz mode. In 120Hz mode, most of the apps use 120Hz when the screen is active. The software dials down to 60Hz when watching videos on Youtube, Netflix, and the default Gallery app. Similarly, the screen refreshes itself at 60Hz when the display stays idle for more than a couple of seconds.

Performance

• Snapdragon 778G
• 6/8GB RAM, 128GB UFS 2.2 Storage

The Xiaomi 12 Lite features the same SoC as the 11 Lite 5G NE – the Snapdragon 778G 5G. It is a 6nm chipset with an octa-core CPU and Adreno 624L GPU.

It comes in two variants: 6/128GB and 8/128GB with UFS 2.2 storage and LPDDR4X RAM. We ran benchmarks to see how good this Snapdragon 778G implementation is and how it fares against similarly priced smartphones.

The Snapdragon 778G is a good performer for the price range and outperforms all alternatives with Snapdragon 600 series chipsets and most of MediaTek’s mid-range offerings as well. It does fall short of the Snapdragon 870 that you can find on the slightly expensive Realme GT Neo 2. So, if you are a hardcore gamer, you should go for the GT Neo 2 by adding some cash.

In our gaming tests, we ran two games: COD Mobile and Genshin Impact. As expected, COD Mobile ran excellently at ‘Max‘ graphics and ‘Max‘ fps settings. We were able to achieve average fps of 59.1 with zero fps drops and stutters.

The Genshin Impact was tested on default ‘Low‘ settings and a 30fps cap. With these settings, we were able to achieve average fps of 30.3 with zero fps drop and negligible stutters.

Overall, the Snapdragon 778G on the Xiaomi 12 Lite is a very good performer and it can run most AAA games at medium settings.

ALSO READ: Redmi Note 11 Pro 4G Review: Does it Surpass Redmi Note 10 Pro?

Camera

• 108MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), 1/1.52″, 0.7µm, PDAF
• 8MP, f/2.2, 120˚ (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12µm
• 2MP, f/2.4, (macro)

Xiaomi 12 Lite gets a 108MP main sensor, 8MP ultrawide sensor, and a 2MP macro sensor. The main sensor is a good upgrade from last year’s 64MP sensor. However, the macro sensor is a downgrade from last year’s 5MP macro sensor.

MAIN CAMERA

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The main camera captures excellent photos in daylight with good sharpness and resolved fine details. The dynamic range is quite wide with boosted color and contrast. However, It does struggle to capture details of foliage.

ULTRAWIDE CAMERA

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The ultrawide camera manages to put out decent photos which are good under the right lighting conditions. The dynamic range is good and the contrast is nice too. The colors are similar to the photos captured from the main camera. However, it crushes the shadows sometimes. Also, the camera begins to struggle indoors with a drastic drop in sharpness.

MACRO CAMERA

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The 2MP macro camera takes low-resolution photos with washed-out colors and low contrast. It is also quite hard to nail the right focusing distance.

LOW-LIGHT

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The low light samples are good even without using the dedicated Night mode. It retains good detail in the shadows and highlights with minimal noise. The colors and contrast are preserved nicely but the dynamic range needs improvement.

The dedicated night mode improves dynamic range, balances out highlights, shadows, removes noise, and improves brightness to resolve more detail in shadows.

PORTRAITS

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The portraits are above average with good sharpness and fine details. The colors look boosted and the dynamic range is decent. The blue effect is convincing enough but it does struggle with complex areas like hair.

SELFIES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The selfies have good detail and look sharp thanks to the autofocus feature. The colors are not as extreme as the rear cameras, it leans toward a neutral profile.

VIDEOS

Xiaomi 12 Lite can capture videos up to 2160p@30fps with the main camera while the ultrawide camera is limited to 1080p@30fps. It also comes with EIS but it only works with 1080p resolution.

The 4k footages from the main cameras are sharp with good detail, the contrast is high and the dynamic range is also wide. The colors are slightly exaggerated but it is a matter of preference.

The ultrawide camera also captures decent footage but the lower 1080p resolution doesn’t really cut it in 2022. The overall quality is average but it could have been better.

Battery & Charging

• 4300mAh
• 67W Fast Charging

The battery capacity has not been improved on the Xiaomi 12 Lite (4300mAh on the 12 Lite vs 4250mAh on the 11 Lite 5G NE). So, it has similar battery life to the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE. The standby time is considerably lower than the Xiaomi 11 Lite but it does provide 5-6 hours of screen on time.

The charging speed has been bumped up with a 67W fast charger that takes 50 mins for a full charge. Also, it takes just 30 mins to reach from 0 to 84%.

Software

This is one of the first Xiaomi phones to run on the MIUI 13 version of Android 12 out-of-the-box.

MIUI 13 promises better RAM management and improved CPU utilization. So far, MIUI 13 feels snappier and smoother than MIUI 12. There’s not much difference between the Android 11 version of the MIUI 13 and its Android 12 version.

Furthermore, Xiaomi has also paid attention to the haptics on this unit, and we found it to be strong and crisp.

Should You Buy Xiaomi 12 Lite?

Xiaomi 12 Lite is an excellent choice that provides you with a nice balance of performance, design, and camera. If you’re looking to buy a new phone, this is definitely a good choice.

The upgraded display is a huge boost to the Xiaomi 12 Lite and its new camera sensor does a very good job. Along with a dependable Snapdragon 778G chipset, the Xiaomi 12 Lite is definitely one of the best phones under Rs. 55,000.

ALSO READ: Xiaomi Mobiles Price in Nepal: Features and Specs

So this is my Xiaomi 12 Lite review. What do you think of the Xiaomi 12 Lite? Let us know in the comments!

Also, watch our review video of the Xiaomi 12 Lite in Nepali.